Episodio 6: Crecer Entre Harina y Sueños: Las Hijas Detrás de Edith's Bakery

¿Qué significa crecer dentro de un negocio familiar? ¿Qué se espera de ti cuando tus padres son los dueños?

Diana y Alma Lopez no eligieron nacer en una familia emprendedora — pero sí eligieron quedarse, aprender, y llevar adelante algo que sus padres construyeron con sus propias manos.

En este episodio del Podcast de Suazo, conversamos con las hijas de los fundadores de Edith's Bakery — una panadería y pastelería con dos locales en el Valle de Salt Lake, construida por inmigrantes, sostenida por familia.

Hablamos de:
 → Cómo fue crecer con padres que eran dueños de negocio
 → Qué se esperaba de ellas desde pequeñas — en la cocina, en el mostrador, en la familia
 → Los sacrificios que vieron de cerca y los que ellas mismas hicieron
 → Cómo es su vida hoy — su rol en el negocio, su identidad, su futuro
 → Qué significa honrar un legado sin perder quiénes son

Esta es una conversación para todo el que creció viendo a sus padres construir algo — y para todo emprendedor que algún día quiera dejarle algo a sus hijos.

🎙 El Podcast de Suazo es producido por el Suazo Business Center — el hogar de los emprendedores latinos en Utah. Ofrecemos asesorías gratuitas, talleres, y programas para ayudarte a lanzar, crecer, y escalar tu negocio.

📍 960 West 1700 South, Salt Lake City, UT 84104
 🌐 suazocenter.org
 📅 Agenda tu asesoría gratuita → suazocenter.org

Transcript

SPEAKER_03 0:06

Well, we are so excited to have uh Diana and Alwa here today. Thank you guys, I mean, you guys know that like I highly admire all that you guys have done. Thank you, Listen. You guys are amazing because to me you guys are the full cycle Swazel uh clients, and then now giving back to the community. So for the ones that don't know you guys, why don't we start with introductions? Let's talk about what you guys are doing right now, uh where you know, like where um you standing professionally and everything, and then we'll go into more details after. So, Alma, um let's start with it.

SPEAKER_04 0:43

Okay, so my name is Alma Lopez. I'm 30 years old and I'm the eldest daughter of Edith. Uh Edith and Jorge. Um, I work in the b family business, and my parents have had the business for about 20 years now. I was 11, 12 when my parents started the bakery, and I have really had a passion for the bakery and everything that it is since a really young age. Diana has videos of me when I was, I don't know, nine, ten, decorating cupcakes, decorating cookies, things like that. So I always had a passion for what my parents were doing in the bakery. Um I'll talk a little bit about the bakery as well. Um, let's let's go with the name. Oh, okay. It's um uh bakery, right? And so what does that mean, right? Cakes by Edith. Edith is our mother. She started decorating cakes when she was 14 years old in Michoacán, Mexico. And since Mexico, she has been decorating cakes. When she came to the United States in 1995, she continued to decorate cakes just at home. And through like word of mouth, which I believe, we believe is one of the best resources of like uh marketing, right? Um, people just started coming to our house, and we used to live in an apartment, and people would order cakes from my from the house. And eventually in 2007, my parents opened up the bakery, which is now called Cakes by Edith Bakery. Um, my dad has always had a passion for baking, and he used to be a baker at Macy's grocery store in uh the yeah uh graveyard shift, and so he would learn how to bake like American style bread. Um, through that skills, my dad has always been very skillful. He learned on his own how to make Mexican bread. And so that's how the bakery came to be. Wow, yeah.

SPEAKER_03 2:30

And professionally, where do you guys stand right now? What are you doing? Um, like are you working full-time in the bakery? What it's like, what are the things that you are doing right now?

SPEAKER_02 2:39

Um professionally, so the my sister and I from a young age, obviously, we saw our parents work in the business. And I feel like from a young age, we kind of already had a passion for it. Me, I definitely would say that I always had a passion for like the pastries, one, and then also just kind of I never knew that I was actually like doing marketing for my parents. I would I started uh like this Instagram page and their Facebook page, and I would just like post pictures of my mom decorating cakes. Um, thinking it was fun. I didn't know that it was actually doing a form of marketing and advertising their business. So now professionally, I went to school, I went to Utah Valley University and I do the marketing. I'm the marketing manager for the bakery um for both locations, and so that's been really fun. And I have seen how much marketing has actually grown our business. So I've I've loved have that, having that position and that um just that you know knowledge with the bakery. That's what I do. How old were you when you were sorry? It was like eight. Eight years old. Yeah, I was eight years old, so I was pretty young.

SPEAKER_04 3:34

Yeah, I was eight years old with the camera, and now, like she says, like she has so many memories from 2007, 2008 of our sandwiches, like our OG sandwiches, our OG cookies, things like that, where it's like a lot of businesses don't have that type of material, and now we can bring it back and we're like, Luke, we're the OG is like we used to do this 20 years. 2007 throwbacks. I'm I think we're very appreciative of Diana for having literally all of those pictures. Thank you guys. What about you, Alma? Because you went to school at UVU, right? I went to school at UVU. So um, with the bakery, um, I saw that my parents had a legacy from a very young age, like 12 years old. I knew that they had some type of legacy going on, but I saw that my parents were doing every single position, and my mom could not focus just on decorating, my dad could not focus just on baking because they had to do everything dishwasher, unplug the toilet, cashier, go uh to Costco, you know, like a bunch of things. And I was like, no, there has to be a way for a parent, for my parents to continue the bakery, but not have to do every single thing. There has to be a system within the bakery. So from 12, I decided I wanted to go to school to get an entrepreneurship degree and help them with like systemization of the bakery. And I did. I graduated in 2020 from UVU and immediately I went full force into the bakery full time. Um, in that point, we just had one bakery, the Taylorsville location. And uh when I graduated, I told my mom, I'm I worked at UVU. I told my mom I'm quitting UVU and I want to full force go into the bakery. Let's open up a second location. And so I was really the full force to open up the second location with the help, some help of my parents financially. Um, I did all the work to open up the Riverton location, and so now I'm the manager of Riverton and I also decorate the cakes at Riverton.

SPEAKER_03 5:19

Yeah, amazing, amazing. But let's go up, go back. Yeah. How was growing up with your parents as business owners? Like, what are where were the things that were different? Like, say, for example, your everyday like was that like you guys got ready for school, parents.

SPEAKER_02 5:35

I have a really good story for this. Every day I would, I remember we lived literally right in front. It was actually really perfect. So when my parents first opened the bakery in 2007, we lived in a neighborhood on Rocky Road um street in Taylorsville, and right across the street from Rocky Road, there was a little plaza, and there is an empty um location in there. And so I remember we were sitting like at the dining table, like making little uh blueprints of how the bakery was gonna look inside, making the little logo and things like that. Me, my sister, my parents all did this. But I remember very profoundly, every morning in the morning, I would walk from the house to the bakery.

SPEAKER_04 6:12

My dad would have literally like a two-minute walk. Two minute walk.

SPEAKER_02 6:15

It was literally so fast. I would walk from the house to the bakery. My dad would have a dozen of donuts ready for me. I would take them to school and I would sell the donuts at school. And my teachers would always be like, Is it your birthday today? And I'm like, No, I'm selling these donuts. And they're gonna be like, Oh, okay, cool. Like, how much are the donuts? I'm like $1.50. And I remembered kids would not like sometimes kids would be like, I'll pay you back tomorrow, I'll bring the money tomorrow. And I'm like, no, if you don't have the money today, I'm not giving you the donuts. I was literally so strict. I had policies with my business. If you don't have the money, I'm not gonna give you the donut. And so people would literally be like, tomorrow, I'm gonna order three. So I would literally tell my dad, I'm like, dad, I have an order of like 25 donuts, and like my donut boxes would get bigger and bigger, and I would walk to school with donut boxes and I would sell the donuts. So I feel like my parents really, the Zetemprano, like really instilled like so. Yeah, I remember I was doing that in fourth grade. I was selling donuts to the kids. Yeah, so yeah.

SPEAKER_04 7:10

Um, for me, we worked at the bakery every day after school, and at the very beginning of the bakery, I was young, Diana was young, and then we had a baby brother that was just born. My parents uh had a baby one year after uh starting the bakery, and so literally we lived inside of the bakery. There was an office room that no longer is there. We tore it down, but the office room, we had a mattress in there, we would sleep in there, we had our computer so we could do our homework. And Diana had a little aquarium of uh what are they called? Seahorses or fishing. Seahorses in there. That was her little pets right there. And then we had a crib for our baby brother George, and we lived inside of the bakery. And in the bathroom, this is funny, uh, like where you dump out the water for the mop, there's like a specific tub that you have to do. We were even like, we could even shower in here. We never did, we never did. So, like at that point, we were like, This is like our house. This is like our house, right? But we lived there.

SPEAKER_03 8:02

Um, yeah. Did you guys feel that you missed out on anything? Because I I I I love to see how you guys seem to have enjoyed growing up that way. But do you do you feel that you missed out on anything? Did we miss on anything? Uh, you know, like your parents were so into the business and stuff like that.

SPEAKER_04 8:19

Um one thing that I can say is like Deanna and I weren't really into sports, but we were in swimming. And my or like academically, we were very good academically. Our parents, unfortunately, could never attend our things, like school things, school.

SPEAKER_02 8:34

Or they were always like running running late. Like I remember my mom, like, if there was like a choir thing that we would be in, my mom would be like the last person running in, like still in her work clothes. And it was we why am I gonna cry? We would I'm always crying this time. I know. Um, but no, I just remember always my mom, my dad would never be able to go, but my mom would go if she could go, she'd be in her work clothes.

SPEAKER_04 8:56

Yeah, so it was that was and immediately like watch us leave to go back quick, you know.

SPEAKER_02 9:02

Um, so I think our life was always like very fast-paced.

SPEAKER_04 9:06

We learned that from a very young age. And then also to this day, I'm I'm hoping it can change for my parents, it has changed, thankfully. We have never had a Saturday off, like since 12 years old, since eight, and George the Nasido. We've never had a Saturday off. Why? Because Saturday is the most busiest day of the week for us. And so Saturdays, like, what do you do on a Saturday? Wake up late, you know, like it's the best day of the week. Do we do we know what that means? We don't know what that means.

SPEAKER_03 9:34

So so, so, but that's that's interesting because even though you're saying, Oh, we never had a Saturday and everything, it seems like you guys enjoyed it. It seems like this legacy that your parents kind of like created for you guys and passing on now to you guys working more full-time uh there and everything. Um it would maybe brought you guys together as a family. Like you I agree. You seem to be very close.

SPEAKER_02 9:58

You seem to We have to. We work together. I I now don't live with my parents, but like when I did live with my parents, every single day felt like a business meeting. Breakfast was a but a business meeting.

SPEAKER_04 10:08

Like we would do dinner about personal, and then it would to go. Going right into business.

SPEAKER_02 10:13

So yeah, we have to get along, obviously, working with parent with your parents and your siblings. You have to be super close and constantly have that communication with them. Always.

SPEAKER_03 10:22

But did you guys go like as a as kids? Were you expected to help in a specific roles, like a specific things? Were you just there and you guys kind of got into it? Or there was some expectation. No, Alma, you are supposed to, Diana, you are supposed to.

SPEAKER_04 10:38

I think from a very young age, my mom always said we're going to university, and they never imagined that we would want to be in the bakery. So, like when we were in the bakery, yes, for sure. Like I had seen my parents, like there was a line of people waiting at the cash register. I'm not just gonna wait there, like so. I don't think it was like, Alma, this is your position, and we didn't get paid as children, like this was free labor, right? And so, yeah, we didn't get paid until teenagers, but I think like us from our heart, we saw like our parents need the help. Like I said, like from 12, I was like, they're starting this legacy, but they're doing every single thing together. How am I just gonna sit back and just wait for the money to come in? I'm not gonna do that, I'm gonna work with my parents, you know. So yeah, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 11:18

As a little, as uh as young girls, we we helped for sure up front mostly, which I also really liked because I feel like that built our charisma as well. We're able to now speak to literally anybody and everybody. So I feel like genuinely I will say, and I'm gonna put this, I'm gonna apply this to my daughter. Her first job is gonna be the bakery. Like she's literally working the bakery, even if it's just washing the dishes. I just want her to learn that like discipline or like I don't know, something like that. Just something of hard work, right? Because like she's not just gonna get at everything.

SPEAKER_03 11:48

But um, what about like the hard stuff in the business? Did you guys like did your parents talk to you guys about financial things or anything that was difficult, like a difficult client and stuff like that? Were or they protect you guys on that sense and decide no, let's not talk about it. What did he what did they do? How was it?

SPEAKER_02 12:09

I feel like there was a change in in our in the business when we had to fire our first really big, like this uh employee was with us, a long-term employee. And there was something that happened, and my mom literally was like, You guys are gonna be the ones to fire her. And we were like, How are we even going to do this? I feel like that was the change when our mom literally was like trusting us with such a big, you know, and we literally couldn't we couldn't back down from this because we were like, we need to show our mom that we have the guts to do it.

SPEAKER_03 12:44

Who were you guys at that time?

SPEAKER_04 12:45

What what what uh we didn't have the second location yet? Yeah, I I was in college. I don't think like we were young when we were in college.

SPEAKER_02 12:53

We were in college, but no say I think that was the changing factor where it was like my mom really put this big task on us, and we were like, hey, let's let's do this. I was in the room, I was quiet, I was scared. I alma did it, but um, I think that was the change where my mom was like, okay, started giving us bigger um roles, responsibilities with the business.

SPEAKER_04 13:14

Um, something to go back to your question, Lucy. Um, financially, I don't think our parents would ever like involve us with any hardships. I know my parents were open in 2007, 2008, the recession hit. Like, do you know how many businesses closed? My parents were one year in, like, so easily they could have closed, you know, and so yeah, it was. I know what they I don't know what they went through. I know that it was hardship, but I don't think we ever saw it. Like they really were so positive, and I think Deanna and I get that um mentality of them. They're so positive with whatever's going on. And so my parents, what they've told us is like, even though it was really bad, some days they they sat down and they said, Okay, if we want to be able to survive, we have to make uh I'm just gonna throw out a number, a thousand dollars a month, like to survive, right? So that means we have to sell $100 a day, lo que sea. And they every day they were like, we have to sell at least $100 a day. Every day they sold at least $100 a day. How did they do it? I don't know. No, you do what you gotta do, you know. I'm totally kidding.

SPEAKER_03 14:17

Well, because they knew, like just doing that, yeah, which of course like business owners don't don't don't understand, is you're talking about where is your breakeven point? We need to have at least this, you know, like to survive and everything. And obviously, I mean they did something right because here we are 19, yeah, 19 years later. You guys just had the 90th birthday uh anniversary of the of the bakery, and and and they did something right.

SPEAKER_04 14:43

So and you know what? I can honestly say I'm pretty sure my mom learned that from Swazo. Like, I'm pretty sure, right? That she learned that she had to do this budget template, this budget sheet to really know how much she had to make for the break-even point. So let's give it out to Swazo. I'm sure she learned that from you guys.

SPEAKER_03 15:00

Yeah, and that's one incredible thing. I yeah, I Swazo has been around for almost 25 years, everything. And I a lot of people don't know that some successful businesses they're started here, like you know, you guys is like you know, some others that that that we haven't. So that that's that's pretty amazing. But um what is the the main lesson that you each of you guys got from growing up? What is the main lesson that your your parents taught you as far as the business? Like if you have to say this is if everything that I learned, this is one top thing that now is very important in your life.

SPEAKER_04 15:39

I think for me, I'm such a proud workaholic, and I learned that from my parents. It's work hard. And everyone says that, right? Work hard, work hard. But it's literally the key component for success, working hard in whatever it is that you want to achieve. Putting in the word, being consistent, you have to work hard. And um, always you get to you, like you're setting your mythas, you're setting your goals, and once you reach that goal, it's like this is not not enough. Like it's good, but you want to keep doing better and better and better. So you just keep working harder and harder and harder, and that just makes progression in your business. And with my parents, both of them, my mom and my dad, I saw like they would get to one point, um, like super random examples, but like we used to when we would uh take orders, it would be little random papers, like we would cut papers up and take orders. Like the client wouldn't have a receipt, it was very unorganized, right? And so getting to the point where okay, now we have order forms where the order uh the client now has their order form, there's a receipt, just little things like this where it's little mythas and you keep checking it off, it makes your business more successful. You're working harder towards these things.

SPEAKER_02 16:42

It's just going back to where you're saying systemizing the business.

SPEAKER_04 16:44

Yeah, I guess that's my main component. I have learned that a business will succeed with hard work and systemizing the business. Like, I guess you don't have to manually work harder, you have to find a way so that work smart. Yeah, work smarter with each other. Uh regardless, I'm still a proud workaholic, and I always want us to do better at the bakery every single day. Like Deanna and I are waking up. I don't know why we wake up at three in the morning every day. Both of us, too. And we were like texting, like, hey, I have this idea. Hey, we're gonna do this today. Like, I don't know what it is, it's just in us that we just want to continue to grow the bakery. That's amazing.

SPEAKER_02 17:18

Um, I think one thing that I definitely have learned in being involved with my family's business is anything you set your mind to, it it can become a reality. Obviously, I'm not just gonna be wishing and hoping that something good happens in my life. I'm obviously gonna put in the work behind all of that. But I truly am so convinced that manifestation with hard work, you know, hand in hand with hard work, is um the key to your your dreams becoming a reality. Yeah. I saw it with my parents. I remember my parents would always make um little like note cards and being like, this year our business is gonna, you know, flourish, blah, blah, blah. They would always like talk that, bring light into their business. And so I feel like anything that you do, if it's regarding your business or your own personal goals, I feel like you genuinely speaking it into existence, into the universe, um, it that's what's gonna happen for you.

SPEAKER_05 18:14

Okay.

SPEAKER_03 18:15

That's amazing. Uh let's talk about like your identity, your culture. Your parents were uh uh immigrants here and uh they came in with this dream of let's build something. Uh, how did you feel? Do you feel or did you feel the pressure of proving that their sacrifice of coming off starting in a whole new country with a whole new language was worth it? Did you feel pressure to say, ah, we need we need to make this work? Because they did all of it.

SPEAKER_04 18:43

100%. 100% for all of us. We're so proud to be Mexican, Mexican American. We're so proud to be able to, within our business, our whole business is a Mexican bakery. Like we showcase our biggest things are like the Mexican pandulce, the tres leches, which we're known for, you know, and so really putting a stamp on what we do, we are proud to be Mexican. We're proud of the and our products that we provide for now, the American society, the American community is.

SPEAKER_02 19:29

Just on Cinco de Mayo, we were literally lying out the door with people just buying churros and tres leches cake slices and everything. So it's so cool that they want to celebrate, you know, uh Cingle de Mayo, which is, you know, it's the Independence Day for Puebla.

SPEAKER_04 19:41

The Yeah, it was the the bad revolution. It was no, I know. Hold on. It was when Puebla won against uh the French Revolution. Revolution, right? So it's just like a state winning, it's not the whole country. Um, but still, it's even I even think to this, sorry, I'm gonna get off a little bit off track when people are like, Americans don't like Mexicans, you know, or they're they're celebrating, they're at least trying to celebrate something that's Mexican. Maybe they don't understand that it's really not our independence. Maybe we should teach them like September is our independence day, but they're trying, they're going to Mexico to support our business, right? Smaller. See the gente on a few singles. They were like, Oh, I'm coming to get trying to to share with my children that are five years old. I'm like, they really are trying, you know. So let's stop with the narrative that they don't like us because they do.

SPEAKER_03 20:27

Yeah, they love our food. Let's talk about this. Like, you grew guys grew up like involved in both cultures. Like you go, you go home and you have this uh tradition and and and this like Mexican Latino uh family traditions and everything, but you also go into school, and probably a lot of your friends are, you know, like uh born and raised here for generations and stuff like that. Did you guys feel that it clashed? How did you guys navigate that, you know, like those both worlds in certain ways?

SPEAKER_04 21:00

Um there's like a saying that I hear all the time that people are like, Yo soy ni daqui ni da ya, and I don't relate to that. Yo soy daqui y soy da ya también. My last name is Lopez, and when I say my name, I don't say Alma Lopez. My name is Alma Lopez, and I was born in the United States. So, like for me, it's not like I don't know where I'm from, like I don't belong here. No, I very much belong here. Mexican Americans belong here, but my last name is Lopez, and I'm so proud to show my culture here, and I'm just like you. I was born here, have the same rights and everything. So for me, I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 21:32

Again, but this you realize that as a little kid or as someone that came as an as an adult because my mom always told us that we were like I remember one time at the bakery, this lady was like, Oh, where are you from? And I was like, Oh, like, you know, I was my answer is yo soy mexicana, right? And so she's like, Pero naciste aquí, and I'm like, Yeah, I'm from the United States. She's like, Pero so entonces no eres mexicana. I'm like, No, I'm Mexicana and I'm American. I feel like I am very much Mexican and I'm very much American. I'm both. So when somebody was trying to take that away from me, I got really offended. I was like, no, you soy Mexicana. So I mexana, but I'm not sure. I got full on Mexican blood, you know. So from a very young age, I feel like our parents always instilled us like you guys are Mexican, you guys, you know, speak the language, you guys are also American, but you know, don't ever be um ashamed of where we're from. Don't ever, you know, try to hide or um be ashamed to speak Spanish in public. Like we always were taught to be very proud of our tradition. So I think that really was instilled into us from a very young age.

SPEAKER_04 22:34

And I see it in George, our brother, as well. He's in high school. And I think like when I remember being in high school, there was a lot of clicks. Like the Latinos here, the white people over here, right? And I don't like that. I like to be integrated. Like we should be have friends from all over the place. And so I feel like I was like that. Diana also, and George, our brother as well. We got along with everybody, I feel like growing up. Yeah, I never felt that like, oh, I don't belong here.

SPEAKER_03 23:00

I and I think it's probably part of because of that, because you feel that you belong both places, and it makes you more feel more comfortable. But it's this is very important, um, you know, like um for us Latino here in the US too, is to find a sense of belonging. And I think that's where Swazo is doing a good job here. It's like you belong here. We can we can understand we were, you know, like now teaching classes in English as well, like uh business classes in English as well, which by the way, Alma is a wonderful teacher. I gotta say that. And and and and it's incredible, like now you're giving back. Your mom came in here to learn. Now you come in here to teach and to advise. I love pretty amazing. Um so is there uh did you ever um did you ever think that you wanted to work in the so you said like you wanted to be ever since you were little, but did you guys see it from a little young age as full-time working in the bakery, or is it just like oh always help my parents?

SPEAKER_04 23:59

Honestly, I wanted to be a doctor when I when I was a little girl, I wanted to be a doctor. But again, like at 12, I was like, no, my parents need help. And so I think the wanting of helping my parents overpowered me wanting now. I'm like, I would never want to be a doctor, like I don't think so. So maybe we were just born with it. I don't know. I I do want to mention like our whole family is entrepreneurs, like, not just our parents, like everything. Aun's uncles, cousins, all of them owns a restaurant, owns an owns orchards, like all of the cherries that come from Washington, that's coming from my uncle's orchards. I'm just letting y'all know. You know, Raul Sanchez orchards. All of the mates that are coming from Samora, Michoacan, those are coming from my you know, so it's just like we just were always instilled in this, and all of our cousins also have started the legacy of have continued the legacy.

SPEAKER_02 24:48

The legacy of their families, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 24:49

It's just in us.

SPEAKER_03 24:50

Like, I don't know. I don't know. That's that's that's you know, that's very, very nice. But uh sometimes, um because there are other people, you know, kind of in the same situation where their parents other people that their parents have a business and everything. But I think one of the things that I see by what you talk is that your parents involved you in a way from very young age, and that instead of bringing the family down was has has string builders, their relationship and everything. Um nowadays, how do you balance your work, your life, like you know, family? I mean you guys both uh have your own families now. How how does that go right now?

SPEAKER_04 25:29

It's crazy. Yeah, it's so crazy. Right now, for me, I'm a mom, I'm a wife, I run the business full time, I come to Swazo, so it's like a lot. Um, but I feel like I wouldn't have it any other way. And I feel like I can still take more on my claims. I don't know.

SPEAKER_02 25:46

But like, let's what else do you what else do you got in life? Let's see, you know? I don't know. I mean it is how do we balance it? A lot of coffee. I'm not even gonna lie. Coffee has gotten us through our crazy mornings. I'm also a mom, I'm also a wife, I also manage the businesses as well. Um, I love being busy and I'm on honestly constantly looking to like see what else I can do or looking to always better or see like what's the next step, what's the next goal that we're reaching for. Um, but I will say honestly, sometimes it does get a little heavy on our shoulders. The responsibility. And I feel like the responsibility as well. Now that we are uh employers, I feel like one of our biggest jobs is to have job, like give jobs to other people, right? So if I feel like if I'm los if I'm lacking in like the marketing aspect of Cakes by Edith, where I'm bringing in the people and then we have slow days, that's where I feel like there's a lot of responsibility on me, where I'm like, damn, I did not do what I needed to do for Mother's Day or do what I needed to do to like promote this new pastry that we have, right? And so then the employees are slow and then we have to maybe give days off. So for me, that's like a big responsibility that I feel on my shoulders, where I'm like, I need to do my job good so that the employees have a job to fulfill, right?

SPEAKER_04 27:03

So I don't know. I I don't think that there's balance. Like in as a business owner, most business owners have a family, have children, have a wife, have a husband, have their businesses, have side hobby, side hobbies. It there's no balance, it's just like you're deciding to take all these things on in your life. I think your biggest priority should be your family and your business, right? And you always need to put a lot of time into your business. But also, like Dana said, now we're able to delegate different tasks. So it's not like we're fully in the business where I have to be a cashier from nine to five. I have delegated those positions. So we're able to focus more on the business on the outside spectrum, like focus on the business, work on the business, not work in the business. Yeah, does that make sense? You know, like delegating. So it is hard. There's a lot to balance, but little by little you start to learn, okay, I can delegate this task and this task to take that off my plate, and I still overlook it, but I'm not working it, you know.

SPEAKER_03 27:58

What would be something that you like an advice that you would give to other um, you know, uh uh sons and daughters of you know, entrepreneurs, like immigrant entrepreneurs that are in a in that age that they are taking a little bit more responsibility in the business? Uh, do you have any advice that you would give to them at this point?

SPEAKER_04 28:18

For me, I think uh mentorship, mentorship, like going to learn. First, you learn the the skills of the business, whether it be a bakery, a restaurant, a cleaning uh business, whatever business it is that your parents have started and you have a liking to it, learn the ins and outs of everything of the business, right? Because as an as an employer, as the business owner, you need to know every single position because sometimes those employ the employees fail or they don't they don't get there, right? And so you have to be in that position. So learn all of the positions that you need for your business, but then also learn as a business owner like how to better yourself. Because if you're gonna take the roll on of uh legacy the legacy of your parents, you need to learn how to start and manage the operating. Sorry, not the bakery, manage the business. And so I think coming back to Swazo, like this is a really good starting point of taking all of the core courses and classes that we offer to learn an like overview, yeah, like a summary.

SPEAKER_02 29:20

Operating and managing your business, your business. Yeah.

SPEAKER_03 29:23

It's very interesting because sometimes people are like, oh, you know, I don't have time to do that. Um, but at the same time, um, you know, it's something that it helps you kind of like, you know, step up and say, Oh, there are ways to do this better. I can learn about this, I can learn, you know, like how to create systems, how to do to do things like that. Let's talk about the future. Where is um the bakery going? Where I mean you guys have two locations right now. What is what is the future holding for? Should we say?

SPEAKER_02 29:54

Sure. Um, we got really big plans, honestly. We're going up to the top. I'm not gonna lie. We got some good things coming. We got more locations in mind, different cities that we're gonna be popping up, and we honestly are gonna be nationwide. We are gonna be shipping nationwide. We are gonna do um like cakes that can be shipped all over the country, and we are going to be doing bake your own pastries at home as well to bring that sense of cultura and tradition into your own home. I know that like taste and flavor and quality, but I know like a lot of us grew up with like our abuelitas or like our moms making, you know, like things at home, baking at home. Well, we're bringing that to you, and it's going to be so much fun, and it's just gonna bring so much cultura and tradition into your own home. And like that smell of a fresh concha coming out the oven, like that's gonna be that you baked yourself. Um, is gonna be so cool.

SPEAKER_04 30:49

To to piggy up piggyback off of that. Um, my biggest goal with the bakery that we will be doing for our 20th year next year is rebranding the bakery. Um, at the beginning, you said the name is Cakes by Edith Bakery. Now you guys have realized throughout this podcast that there's many more, there's many more people inside of the bakery, other than the whole team. You know, we have a big team of 20 people. And so the cakes are not only made by Edith, we don't only make cakes. Um, so the name has to change. So I'll announce it now. We are looking at just changing it to Editas, which is what my son calls my mom.

SPEAKER_02 31:24

I feel like it really shows, sorry, really quickly. I feel like it really shows the direction of who Cakes by Edith is going because my mom is now a grandma, and her name for her grandchildren is Editas. So Edita is what they call her. So I feel like that really just shows the transition of like from Cake Spa Edith to who my mom is now, which is Edita. And so we really like the name and we're gonna do it.

SPEAKER_04 31:48

Yeah, we're gonna rebrand. And apart from that, uh talking a little bit about mentorship, there's a really good business that we admire and it's an inspiration to us, whereas at the level that Deanna just said, right? Where they're shipping nationwide, it's a family-owned business. After I think like 40 years that they've been in business, maybe more, it still remains a family business. They still they employ a thousand employees, but it still remains a family owned business. Family owned and operated.

SPEAKER_02 32:14

We're gonna be at that level.

SPEAKER_04 32:15

We actually were able to get the opportunity to give mentorship through them, and we're gonna travel to another state to get a little bit of mentorship and advice from them.

SPEAKER_02 32:23

Guidance from them.

SPEAKER_04 32:24

That's what I want to say is like starting to get mentorship for businesses that are just starting, learn where there's resources that you're doing. Within your industry, mentorship, yeah. And so SWASO is a good starting point, and then maybe they can direct you to other two related industries where you can now get mentorship. And for us, now that we've been in the industry for 19 years, we've reached out and it was crazy. Like we did, we were like, let's just like shoot our shot and see what happens.

SPEAKER_02 32:49

And you was that one saying it's like you miss every shot you don't take. Yeah, yeah. Literally, we on a random Tuesday afternoon. One week ago. One week ago, we literally were like, let's just email them and see what happens. And two days later, I get a phone call from the personal personal phone call to Alma, and we're like, What? So shoot your shoot your shot. That's it, that's all we got to say. Shoot your shot.

SPEAKER_03 33:13

Pretty amazing. We're so happy to have you guys here. We're so happy to have you guys here, also sharing uh all your knowledge with you know our clients and stuff like that as well. Um, is there any other stories about either your family, the business, or um anything that you would like people to know? You guys celebrated the 19th birthday. The 19th of April.

SPEAKER_04 33:39

Yeah, golden birthday. Um that uh well, I just want to say thank you to that because the amount of people that we had that the amount of people that went to support us was insane. Like we already knew there was gonna be a lot of people.

SPEAKER_02 33:51

It exceeded what our and every time we do something like that, like every time we ever do something new, like whenever we introduce a new pastry or a new service or something to the bakery, we're kind of scared. We're a little like, are people even gonna want this? But then we literally get sold out and we're like, oh wow, people want this. Like they literally show up for us each time. So I feel like that's our biggest motivator is like the people that support us literally were like, Yeah, you know what? Let's do this thing, let's keep going. So I just keep you know popping out ideas, and I'm sometimes at like 3 a.m. I call Alma and I'm like, Alma, I have this crazy idea, and she's like, Let's do it. And I'm like, All right, let's go.

SPEAKER_00 34:27

So all right, now I throw in my question. Yeah, so talking about community, yes, just mentioned that horror things. Um obviously you're here at Swaza Center teaching and and sharing and advising other people, but uh community is built by businesses and and people, right? So how is that part of the culture of your business? How is community part of what you do?

SPEAKER_04 34:51

Uh really big, honestly, really big. If it weren't for the community, we wouldn't be selling, right? Like the commun first of all, the Latino community. I think a big part is that my parents wanted to start the bakery because of the cakes. My mom was recognized for her cakes, but then my dad wanted to bring in the bread because he's like, Taylorsville deserves a place where there's a Mexican pandulce because there's a big Latino community here, and so we were able to serve that community for many years. Riverton, there's the Latino community is growing, but the majority, uh, predominantly is Caucasian, right? And so it was like, oh, are they gonna accept what we make, the Mexican Pandulce? They did 100% and they love it. Like I stated, right? They absolutely love it. So community is a really big thing. Go ahead.

SPEAKER_02 35:34

Really, I not just on cells, too, though. I feel like Alma and I have really hit a different community where now we're going to do presentations at like Latinos in action school high school classes. We go to Valley High School and we give them um knowledge on Dia de los Muertos and we kind of like showcase what our what the bread means and like what the tradition means. So I feel like even just like building that community of like teaching the younger generation, I feel like has been really important for us as well, just because we get to connect with like the people, nuestra gente, you know, like nuestra raza and like they're they're younger, they're like Gen Z, right? And so they're like making TikToks and stuff, but it's fun. We like to hang out with them and like they see us for the true, the true people that we are, which we're normal people, but you know, no más le echamos ganas en la vida. And I hope that we can honestly like give them that same motivation and inspire these young kids to me in if they want to have a business, if they don't want to have a business, but whatever you got to do, just put in all your effort and like, you know, just be good, be the best version of yourself that you can be in anything that you do.

SPEAKER_04 36:36

And then one last thing to touch on community. When we hosted our 19-year anniversary, uh, apart from the party, we did like a 5K uh because there's the park right next to us. And like there was a big community of runners that have never been to the bakery before. They supported us, did the 5K with us, and then eventually went into the bakery. But it's like building these little things of community where I'm not a runner, Deanna's not a runner, you know, like, but we were able to touch base into the runner community and they came, they did the 5k, and then they supported us in our business. So definitely like community is a big thing, whatever it is.

SPEAKER_03 37:10

So thank you so much, Diana and Ama, for being here today, being here today. Thank you. I heard a lot of um proud of you uh your coach um who you are, where you came from roofs and stuff. I heard um let's you know, let's engage. It's not like you are there and I'm here is like be our community. I heard a lot of like small not only hard work, I think it's smart work vision. Yes, uh, and so focus. So yeah, focus. And so we are so proud to have you guys here to have you guys be part of Swazo Business and always. Yeah, yes, to share um all the information that you guys shared with us today. Thank you so much for being here. Thank you, Lucy. We appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 37:53

So before we go, uh tell something to the community about where your bakers are, how can people find us? Okay.

SPEAKER_02 38:01

Um we are located, we have two locations. So if you are looking for a good cake, tres leches, we are award-winning three years in a row. Best tres leches, um, Taylorsville, 1736 West, 5000. 1736, 5000 South. Um, and then we have another location in Riverton. So if you guys are looking for good sandwiches, we got some signature sandwiches that my dad has been making for over 20 years now. We got Mexican Pandulce, authentic, delicious Mexican pandulce. Alma here is our head decorator at Riverton. So if you need a wedding cake or anything, that's she's your go-to girl, honestly.

SPEAKER_04 38:35

And the uh the address for that is 1515 West 12600 South in Riverton, Utah, right next to the Beans and Brews.

SPEAKER_02 38:44

We're on Instagram, TikTok, Facebook, and DoorDash, and we got a website.

SPEAKER_04 38:49

You can order online, and we're the only Mexican baker here in Utah that is able to order online.

SPEAKER_02 38:54

A wedding cake if you even want to. Yeah. Yeah, DoorDash, thumb in the thanks, guys.